UC Irvine OSU Test Nite #2

Ohio State’s Drops Second 3-1 decision to UC Irvine in Exhibition MatchStevens has 19.5 points and Klein, 15 for the Buckeyes.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s volleyball team lost a second, 3-1 (30-22, 30-26, 26-30, 30-23) decision to UC Irvine Sunday night in St. John Arena in an exhibition match. Ohio State’s Sam Stevens (5th/Sr., Miami, Fla.) scored a match-high 19.5 points for the Buckeyes with Robbie Klein (Jr./So., Cincinnati, Ohio) adding 15. Stevens had a match-high 18 kills, one ace serve and an assist block while Klein posted 12 kills, two ace serves and a solo block. UC Irvine’s Matt Webber scored a team-high 18 points with Jayson Jablonsky adding 17.5. Webber had a team-high 17 kills and two assist blocks while Jablonsky contributed 14 kills, two ace serves and three assist blocks. Tied at seven in game one, a kill from Stevens and a Brett Versen (Sr./Jr., Centerville, Ohio) ace serve gave Ohio State a 9-7 lead. An OSU error and a Jablonsky kill tied the game at nine. Three Buckeye errors opened a 12-9 Anteater lead. Trailing 17-13, Ohio State, with kills from Klein and Matthew Hankey (Sr./Jr., Naperville, Ill.) and a UC Irvine error cut the lead to one at 17-16. Anteater kills from Brandon Mel and David Smith and two OSU errors put UC Irvine ahead, 21-16. At 26-22, Anteaters, two kills from Webber and a Webber-Aaron Harrell block set game point at 29-22. An OSU error ended the game at 30-22.

UC Irvine hit .345 for the game to -.067 for Ohio State.After Ohio State opened game two with a Klein kill, two kills from Harrell, a Harrell-Taylor Wilson block and an OSU error gave UC Irvine a 4-1 lead. The Anteaters held the lead and at 27-23, two UC Irvine errors and an ace serve from Stevens cut the lead to one at 27-26. Kills from Webber and Jablonsky set game point at 29-26 and a Jablonsky ended the game at 30-26. The Anteaters hit .400 for the game to .296 for the Buckeyes.Ohio State trailed 3-2 in game three when a Layne Dreven (5th/Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) kill tied the game at three. A Buckeye block from Versen and Ben Spurlock (Jr./So., Stow, Ohio), kills from Stevens and Versen and an Anteater error gave OSU a 7-3 lead. At 8-4, UC Irvine scored six straight points to take a 10-8 lead. The run began with kills from Webber and Smith, two OSU errors and blocks by Jablonsky-Smith and Smith-Brian Thornton. At 12-10, a kill from Stevens and an Anteater error tied the game at 12. A Jablonsky kill made it 13-12, UC Irvine. A Dreven kill, a Dreven-Versen block and a UC Irvine error gave OSU a 15-13 lead. At 16-14, OSU, two OSU errors, a Smith kill and a Cole Reinholm ace serve opened an 18-16 Anteater lead. At 19-17, two kills from Stevens and a UC Irvine error gave OSU a 20-19 lead. A Buckeye error tied the game at 20. A Versen kill and an Anteater error gave Ohio State a 22-20 lead. At 24-22, a UC Irvine error, a Klein ace serve and a Stevens-Dreven-Versen block gave Ohio State a 27-22 lead. Two OSU errors cut the Buckeye lead to 27-24. At 29-26, a Spurlock kill ended the game at 30-26. Ohio State hit .121 for the game to .100 for UC Irvine.

UC Irvine broke a 3-3 tie in game four with a Smith kill and a Smith-Reinholm block for a 5-3 lead. Trailing 16-14, a Klein kill and an Anteater error tied the game at 16. Jablonsky, with a kill, gave UC Irvine a 17-16 lead. Kills from Klein and Dreven gave OSU an 18-17 lead. An OSU error tied the game at 18. Tied at 21, kills from Jablonsky and Reinholm gave UC Irvine a 23-21 lead. An Anteater error made it 23-22. UC Irvine scored the next six points starting with kills from Smith and Jablonsky. The run continued with a Reinholm ace serve, a Smith-Thornton block, an OSU error and a Jablonski kill to reach match point at 29-22. OSU stopped the first match point with a kill from Stevens. With a kill, Smith ended the game at 30-22, for a 3-1 victory in the match. The Anteaters hit .500 for the match to .344 for Ohio State.For the match, UC Irvine hit .330 to .172 for Ohio State. The Anteaters had a 56-53 advantage in kills while Ohio State had a seven-to-five margin in ace serves. The Buckeyes gave up 19 service errors to 18 for UC Irvine. Defensively, the Anteaters had a 32-27 edge in digs with UC Irvine’s Thornton and Brent Asuka and OSU Conor Martin (Jr., Avon Lake, Ohio) sharing match-high honors with seven each. At the net, the Anteaters had a nine to 6.5 advantage in team blocks. Smith for UC Irvine and Versen for the Buckeyes shared match-high honors with four assist blocks each. OSU setter Daniel Mathews (Jr., Shorewood, Wis.) and UC Irvine’s Thornton each collected 46 assists in the match.